The Footy Pie

Looking into a Clarks pie

I can never pass up a pie story without making a comment about it. Therefore, when I read a story about football and pies two of my favourite subjects I put pen to paper, well the keyboard anyway.

 

It is a bit of a false story with this pie survey conducted by Tesco’s involving pies sold in their stores near to Premier League grounds. I would be more interested in the quantity of pies sold in the ground not out of a supermarket.

 

The winning club of who ate all the pies is Southampton fans according to Tesco. They buy 310,000 pies every year in a Tesco near to St Mary's Stadium. However, are every one of these pies bought by football fans? How can you tell the difference between a guy just out shopping or a footy fan? Not every fan wears his team’s colours. Are all the pies sold on match day just bought before games or the total sold during the day? A lot of questions all unanswered.

 

As I mentioned earlier I would be more interested to know how many pies are eaten in the grounds around the country over the season. My preference of a pie at football is a locally made Clark’s Pie over the Peters Pie sold at the Cardiff stadium if I was to be honest. If a Clarks Pie is not available I would forgo a pie altogether and go with a beef burger. I was always happy to try a foreign pie on my past travels around the grounds.

 

My major problem with pies at football is the lack of variety. Many clubs sell Pukka Pies or a company pies like Peters. If you are lucky they may have, a local pie on sale like those at Morecambe FC pies that regularly top Footy Pie Awards.

 

My definition of a footy pie is first, it must be a meat pie on sell to the ordinary fan. Not a pie exclusive to corporate areas in the posh seats and suites. Not the healthiest option but on a cold winters day they can warm your soul even if the football on show is leaving you feel cold.

 

I recently revisited the book 92 Pies, a fans journey around 92 football grounds sampling their pies. I have to say it would be my dream book to write two of my favourite subjects rolled into one.